TK Actions Quick Tip: Reusing saved luminosity masks

Sean Bagshaw recently posted another Quick Tip video covering how to save and reuse luminosity masks. The TKActions V6 panel has the “Channel” button in the OUTPUT section, which saves the luminosity masks it generates, already programmed in. So the saving part is pretty easy. But the panel doesn’t know when you want to actually recover and use the saved mask, and that’s where Sean’s video comes in handy. He’ll walk you through a couple of different methods to add the saved mask to a layer on the Layers panel. Saving and reusing masks on the Channels panel is somewhat of an advanced technique, but it’s helpful to be aware of it for those situations where you’ve spent a little time creating a particularly useful mask that you might want to use again later on.

Another option for reusing and duplicating a previous luminosity mask is to use one already deployed as a layer mask on the Layers panel. To reuse a layer mask, simply ALT/option+click on the mask and drag it to the layer where you want to use it. Photoshop will duplicate the mask and add it as the layer mask on the second layer. While this is a relatively easy maneuver, layer masks can sometimes get a little messy if you’ve painted on them to conceal or reveal how the mask affects the layer it’s attached to. Channel masks, like Sean demonstrates in the video, can be used to save an original version of a mask that can then be further altered with painting or other adjustments after it’s turned into a layer mask.